In the year 1225, according to a court record, a fugitive failed to
appear before royal justices inYork, a city in England. The
man's name was similar to Robin Hood, and York is very close to Robin's supposed stamping
ground, Sherwood Forest. But one court record is the only evidence suggesting that
Robin Good ever existed.

The
legend of Robin Hood has been around for a least 700 years, although there are many
versions of his exploits. But was the legendary Robin a real person, or did some
storyteller make him up?

Despite the lack of written evidence, historians
have long been trying to find an answer. Here's what they know about Robin.

Robin in Song

Lithe and lysten, gentylmen,That be of frebore blode:I shall tel you of a good yeman,His name was Robyn Hode.

So begins "A Gest of Robyn Hode," none of the oldest
stories about Robin exists. (To make sense of the verse quoted to the left, read it
aloud.) Many scholars believe that the gest, an adventure story in verse,
was first written down in the 1300s or early 1400s. The tale may have existed, in
story or song, as far back as the late 1100s.

In the opening verse, Robin is a "good yeman," or yeoman
(YOH-man). In the 1500s, a yeoman was someone who owned his land.

Yeomen didn't rank as high as knights or noblemen. But they
had the privilege of serving the king in various ways. Some kept the king's records.
Others carried the king's bows and arrows at archery matches. Many were foresters,
men hired to oversee the vast tracts of wooded land that belonged to the ruling family.

The early songs about Robin called him both a yeoman and a
forester. Some also called him an "outlawe." Bands of outlaws lived
in the deepest parts of the forest. They often robbed travelers who passed through
the Royal Forest of Sherwood and other dangerous places. So the ideas of a yeoman
forester turned fugitive in Sherwood is not far-fetched.

Making Myths?

King
Henry II and his sons, Richard and John, were actualhistorical figures. One after the other, they ruled England from 1154 to
1216. During that time, historians tell us, many people were upset with
them--especially with John, even before he became king.

Commoners couldn't attack the people in power. But they could
express unhappiness in other ways. One way was by creating a myth, a story
that presents fictional events as if they actually happened.

Commoners would have enjoyed hearing
about a hero who outsmarts a king of his son--or the sheriff of Nothingham.

With the evidence they've uncovered so far, historians can't tell
for sure whether Robin Hood was a real person or a myth. Perhaps that fugitive
mentioned in court records was really Robin. Perhaps, as time went by, various
storytellers just changed the circumstances around the figure in their retellings.

One thing is certain, though: The
character Robin Hood has survived for centuries, thanks to people who have passed his
story down through the generations.